I just received this as a gift. Whenever I play a note, white noise accompanies the guitar sound and decays in volume with the note. It sounds like a brush on a snare, or when you don't mute the snare on the drum and play a note in tune with the drum. This is present both through the speaker and headphones, and I turned the noise reduction to the lowest value (off) and this still happens. I was under the assumption that when the headphones are plugged in that the tube power section is bypassed, so it wouldn't be the tube, would it?

Is this just part of the preamp section and what it 'does'? I know it is not my guitar or cable. I'm afraid that if this is not something which can be remedied, I will have to back away from this series and check out Orange Crush or something else.

I thought that maybe the noise gate was affecting my signal, causing the issue, hence I turned it off. You don't know how glad I would be if the noise reduction knob changed the issue at all. The noise reduction knob nearly silences any idle hiss, but the 'unmuted snare' sounding white noise that decays with every note I play does not change at all. It's very annoying, and I have never played an amp that does this.

I'll repeat, this is ***not*** typical amp hiss/noise, it is a white noise like a buzzing snare on a drum that appears when a note is played, and decays with the note. Ironically, it's the loudest on the AC30 model, which is the model I wanted to use more than any of them.

EDIT: http://www.voxamps.com/forum/topic.php?id=3004&page=2

There is a thread where two people have this same issue, and seem equally frustrated. This amp was purchased at a Guitar Center over three hours away and I don't know when I'll be able to exchange it.

Thanks for the suggestion and the thoughts randman, unfortunately I am unable to locate any such reset steps in the manual. I have searched the .pdf manual from the VOX website for "reset". I assumed it would at least be in the troubleshooting section.

EDIT: I should know better. Google is my friend. It's called 'initializing' in the manual. I'll try this on my lunch break, I *hope* it works...

I've had that issue with my amp every now and then. Exact same thing that you are describing. I think with mine it only happens on certain settings and it hasn't occured enough for me to chase it down. As on person mentioned, it may be the speaker. Another thought is to use some contact cleaner on your jacks and cables..... you never know.

AS far as your mp3 goes if your running direct from your ipod you may not have enough signal strength and need a preamp of some kind to boost the signal/ small mixer.

This hiss noise seems to be a common theme in these amplifiers, and the odd thing some do and some don't. I own 5 Vox Valvetronix and currently am using my AD30 and have a small hiss always assumed it to be the noise reduction on and off. Essentially the same as my noise gates in the studio, they would emit a small amount of hiss but it could be controlled by careful settings and an EQ to roll off some of the higher frequencies. A good reason to add an FX loop in these amplifiers.

If it was my amp I'd even try changing the Valve. As some one who has changed dozens of them in my amps some of them accentuate the highs like JJ's, Grove tubes, Tung-sol gold.
I personally didn't like these particular Valves, maybe go with a Ruby, or Sovtek 12AX7 smoother high end may not solve your problem but may prove to dampen it some what. If and when I purchase a 40+ the first thing I will do is trash the stock Valve, in my opinion they're crap!!! I currently run with NOS telefunkens but unless you take your tone seriously, its not a feasible option for most of you, at about $75 to 100 a piece.

Sorry just had another thought I forgot the new line has all the added FX like my blue. Have any of you turned off all the FX, and then adjusted the noise reduction and treble as well. I play with more mid, treb is about 9 o'clock. You may be getting more hiss with the different FX specially the distortions.

Yes your right , but I thought buy eliminating some of the high frequencies, that certain Valves enhance it may reduce the hiss you hear through the speaker end of things. I never listen to mine through headphones.

shades; this is why I've stuck to the AD models, I actually purchase not one, but two VT30's a year or so ago, and couldn't get rid of the buzz, hiss scenario, and returned them both! I had hoped maybe some one would get to the bottom of this, as I've been hopefull it only applied to the last generation. I Kinda wanted a forty, but maybe the beast lives on!!! In saying this some have reported no such issue with this amp!! Kinda baffles me, I've had 2 and took them both home with bad results!

The only reason I keep caring on with these models is They Rock when they work properly. Maybe give them another chance and try one more to see if its different, have heard of folks sending them back and their new ones fine. Could it be component generated? A Small variance of tolerance in the mass produced components? That's why some hiss and some don't? I sure wish you Purchasing beta testers could get to the bottom of this issue. Do I have to go to Marshall for my next AMP!! They're looking pretty sweet!!

One of these days one of your competitors are going to catch up, and Abandon Ship!!!! You can only Hiss on folks for so long!!!

Give the sockets a good clean. It happened to mine for the first time the other week. A quick in-and-out a few times with the jack cleared it for a week then it reappeared. A spray with cleaner and it's been good again. Do all the sockets (including headphone socket too)

In all Valvetronix amps, even the original Blue series, Vox opted for a low cost jack-socket unit - whilst this helps to keep costs down, these can have a tendency to oxidise. If this happens, you can get signal degradation and thus tonal degradation & extra noise. Cleaning sockets thoroughly with electrical switch cleaner cures the problem. Even though an amp may be new to you, you don't know when it was actually made or the storage conditions before making its way to you. So, even new Valvetronix amps may suffer from oxidisation.

I had oxidised sockets in my AD120VTX - I now clean all the jack sockets once every 6 months, and in 6 yrs since have never had any further problem

Read here also:
http://www.valvetronix.net/forums/maintenance-tips-on-valvetronix-amps-t141.html

What do you think, randman, jimwestman, and badfrog, have you guys tried cleaning the input jack? I'll try it tonight and let you know, but I would still be anxious for responses.

Use cleaner with LUBRICATION, absolutely must have a lubricant or you stand a chance of freezing your controls and switches up (controls will not turn, switches will stick). The jacks have switches in them, it is the switch contacts that are causing the trouble, thus the need for numerous cleaning to enable the cleaner to get into the switches inside the jack.

You can make a tool for cleaning the switches inside the jacks better, how to make the tool is posted on the Valvetronix.net site.